Winn's rise takes him to All-Star Game

© St. Petersburg Times
published July 1, 2002

ST. PETERSBURG -- First he was thought of as a young prospect with a chance to develop into a speedy slap hitter. A few years later, he was viewed as a decent fourth outfielder. As recently as this spring, he was considered a part-time player.

Today, Randy Winn is an All-Star, selected a reserve to the American League squad for the July 9 game in Milwaukee.

"He's done what I think every young major-league player should do: He's gotten 10 times better than he was when he first got here," Rays catcher John Flaherty said. "Obviously you want to get better every year, but you can really look at him and say he's added different facets to his game every year and noticeably improved. You've got to want to do that and you've got to want to work at it, and he has. It's been fun to watch."

Winn, in his typical low-key style, didn't make much of his selection. He said he was excited, he was honored, it was something he'd always dreamed about as a kid. He said that as a byproduct of being selected he wouldn't get to spend the three-day break as planned working on wedding details in California with his fiancee, "which I think we'll both happy about."

Perhaps most importantly, he said he wasn't satisfied with his performance despite hitting .307 with 6 homers, 39 RBIs and 15 stolen bases and setting a handful of team records.

"My goal is not to play well for just half a season," Winn said. "I want to play well for a full season, and another season after that. I look at it as I have a long way to go."

The Rays are pleased with how far he has come since they made him the 29th of their 35 picks in the November 1997 expansion draft.

Winn split his first three seasons between Triple-A Durham and the majors, and thought he might get released after the 2000 season. He kept working at his game, getting bigger and stronger along the way, and the Rays kept watching.

"Very seldom do you get a chance to give a guy as much time as we'd given Randy at the major-league level," bench coach Billy Hatcher said. "You see the talent and you keep saying, "When is it all going to come together?' ... We stayed with him, and not that he didn't do well before, but sometimes as a coach you see more in a player than he sees in himself. But he kept going and he kept believing in himself and things just started to happen for him."

Winn finally established himself as major-league player last season, hitting .273 with six homers and 50 RBIs in a career-high 128 games.

Manager Hal McRae told Winn this spring he thought he was only a part-time player. Winn told him he was wrong. McRae told him to show it.

"He was out to prove something, and he did," McRae said. "It's a win-win situation. He wins and I win. He's been a good player for me, and he's a leadoff man and he's getting on base and he's playing a better centerfield. And he gets the recognition for that in being selected to the All-Star team.

"It shows what happens if a player believes in himself."

Winn, 28, said the opportunity to play every day was key, allowing him to relax and not worry that one bad game would land him on the bench. So was moving to the leadoff slot June 5, an assignment he was comfortable with.

"He's gone from a player who proved last year he was a major-league player but hadn't proved he was an everyday player to playing in Milwaukee," general manager Chuck LaMar said. "It's a compliment to him and how much work he's put in and the job he's done."

The other Rays couldn't have been happier for him.

"I think if you took a poll in this clubhouse, 24 guys would say Randy Winn should go to the All-Star Game and the only one who wouldn't would be Randy Winn," Brent Abernathy said. "And that tells you a lot about what type of person and what type of teammate Randy Winn is."